Chapter 12 — Profile 9:17

That very night, with the old fisherman's mastery of the terrain, Vu and Van successfully escaped from the siege of the 'Blue Horizon' project guards. The next morning, the Ford Everest with Saigon license plate carrying film rolls containing secretly taken images of the construction site diagram and audio recordings of the fishermen's statements immediately returned to C03 headquarters.

The evidence Vu collected, combined with the cash flow statements that Van analyzed, created a perfect chain that tied Dang Tuan. Right in the afternoon, Director C03 presented the urgent documents to the Supreme People's Procuracy. A comprehensive asset freeze order against the front company 'SeaBreeze Holdings' and the 'Blue Horizon' project was issued quickly. Bank accounts containing thousands of billions of dong - which were originally prepared to be dispersed again - were frozen right before Dang Tuan could execute the order to transfer money to a tax haven in the Caribbean.

Just three days later, Dang Tuan was captured by the Criminal Police Team while hiding in a cargo container at Cat Lai port, preparing to flee abroad by sea. The collapse of this "financial brain" has completely closed the huge corruption and money laundering network of Dinh Phat Group. The cash flow of thousands of billions of dong, built on the blood and tears of Tan Cang bridge workers and poor fishermen in Vung Tau, was finally returned to its rightful place: the State Treasury.

***

Two months later.

The large hall of the Ministry of Construction was immersed in a solemn and emotional atmosphere. The red velvet curtains were pulled aside to reveal a center stage filled with bright lights and fresh flower baskets. Today is not an ordinary summary conference. Today is the day the Ministry of Construction holds a ceremony to exonerate and posthumously award the State Medal of Courage to the late engineer Le Van Sang - who has been unjustly accused for the past decade.

Le Nhu Van sat in the first row reserved for family members. She wore a simple white silk ao dai, her long black hair falling to her shoulders. Compared to the skinny, emaciated girl carrying a worn leather briefcase who knocked on the door of Trinh Vu's lawyer's office a few months ago, the present Van exudes a resilient, loving and unusually serene beauty. The dark circles around his eyes due to insomnia were gone, replaced by a clear look, sparkling with tears of happiness.

Sitting right next to her are Trinh Vu, mature in a dark gray suit, and Hoang Minh, who is constantly panning the camera lens to capture this historic moment for the cover of the upcoming special issue.

"Invite the family representative of the late engineer Le Van Sang to step up on stage to receive the medal and decide to posthumously award the Medal," the male MC's warm voice rang out through the loudspeaker system.

Van took a deep breath and stood up. Vu patted her arm and smiled encouragingly. When Van stepped onto the podium, hundreds of people in the hall simultaneously stood up and gave a resounding round of applause. The Deputy Minister of Construction, an older man with gray hair, stepped forward to hand over to Van the Medal of Courage, solemnly placed in a red velvet box.

"The sacrifice of engineer Le Van Sang to protect professional principles and the lives of dozens workers are a shining example of the ethics of technicians," the Deputy Minister, tearfully moved, spoke in front of the microphone. "Over the past ten years, the Construction industry has owed a great debt to your family. Today, justice has been served. Engineer Sang's name will forever be engraved in the history books of the industry."

Van hugged the velvet box tightly to her chest, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I did it, dad! Mom, the two people in heaven can smile now," she whispered in her mind, feeling an absolute peace that filled the painful void of ten long years.

The compensation amount extracted from Do Trong Thang's recovered assets has been transferred to the victims' families. Fishermen in Vung Tau will also have their land returned or receive adequate compensation at market prices. Everything seems to have been fulfilled. The brutal war has truly ended, and the good people are finally rewarded.

The ceremony ended in a warm atmosphere and filled with smiles. Everyone lingered in the large hall to have a light tea party and take souvenir photos. Van was standing and talking with a few of her father's old colleagues, when a middle-aged man wearing a sleeveless shirt and a baseball cap that fell down to cover half of his face gently passed her.

"Le Nhu Van, congratulations on exonerating your father," the man whispered loud enough for only her to hear. Before Van could react, that person stuffed a small kraft paper envelope into her hand, then quickly slipped into the crowd heading towards the main door and disappeared without leaving a trace.

Van frowned slightly, looking down at the envelope in her hand. There is no sender name, nor any symbols. Her heart suddenly skipped a beat, a vague feeling of insecurity crept into her mind, just like the day she saw the Chinese ink writing on the Do paper envelope.

She apologized to the people around her, retreated to a hidden corner near the bathroom area to open the envelope. There were no letters inside, nor bank documents. There are only three color photos secretly taken with a long-range lens.

The first photo shows a sidewalk cafe hidden in a deserted alley. A man wearing a dark coat and cap was handing a small leather suitcase to another person. The recipient of the suitcase is none other than... Lawyer Trinh Vu.

Van was stunned and tried to look closely. Vu's face in the photo is very clear and unmistakable. The time displayed in the corner of the security screen printed on the photo is three days before the arrest of Do Trong Thang at the airport.

The second photo shows a close-up of a man in a cap looking away. It was a man with a faint scar on the corner of his eye. Van recognized him immediately. It was Tung - Security Director of Ocean Bank, Do Trong Thang's right-hand man, who carried the aluminum briefcase containing evidence to the basement that night! The person is said to have fled and is the most wanted person today.

Why did Trinh Vu meet privately and receive a mysterious suitcase from the enemy's security director right before the decision to overthrow Do Trong Thang? Why did a lawyer dedicated to justice have secret deals with the episode's most powerful henchman? Dinh Phat group?

Van trembled and turned to the third photo. This photo was taken inside a slightly opened suitcase. Nestled among stacks of 100 USD bills was a cassette tape identical to the one her father had buried under the altar, the original tape that Vu said he had submitted to the investigation agency!

Van's mind was spinning. A series of scary questions surrounded her mind. Could it be... could it be that Do Trong Thang's arrest, Dang Tuan's capture, were all just an even more perfectly staged play? What terrible secret is Trinh Vu, the lawyer who always sacrifices himself for justice, who has accompanied her through life and death, who saved her from bullets at the Di An shrimp farm and the underground parking lot, actually hiding?

Is he selling out her family to gain a huge sum of money, using her as a pawn to eliminate Do Trong Thang's faction on behalf of a higher underground force? If the original tape is really in that suitcase, what is the thing that the investigation agency is keeping as evidence to convict Do Trong Thang? A copy? Another fake document created?

"No way... Anh Vu is not that kind of person..." Van muttered, but her voice trembled weakly, unable to convince herself. The evidence is clear before your eyes, photos cannot lie. The trust that she had worked so hard to build over the past months was like a fragile sand castle facing fierce waves.

From the main lobby, Trinh Vu's warm and familiar voice rang out. "Van! Where are you? Hoang Minh wants us to take a commemorative photo with the Medal."

Van was startled and frantically stuffed the photos back into her handbag. Her hands were cold, sweat drenched her palms. She quickly smoothed the hem of her ao dai and took a few deep breaths to regain her normal appearance. She stepped out of the hidden corner, tried to give a forced smile and looked at the man she once trusted with all her life. The camera's flash flashed brightly, but in Le Nhu Van's eyes at this moment, Trinh Vu's calm smile contained a deep abyss that she had never touched. The nightmare seemed to have ended, but it turned out that it had only just begun to transform to reveal its true form. A new war, a hundred times more terrifying and lonely, was unfolding right under her feet.